Three Steps Into Another World
by szynka2496
Summary: That moment when you go to London for the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary special but at the same an alignment of the worlds happen. Jane gets infected by the Aether, Malekith looks really familiar and Loki turned even sassier during his time in prison. What else? Erik Selvig goes streaking. Signed Jackie Walker. Rated T for language SEQUEL TO TWO STEPS FORWARD
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Jackie Walker**

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Prologue

"_Long before the birth of light there was darkness, and from that darkness came the Dark Elves. Millennia ago__,__ the most ruthless of their kind, Malekith, sought to transform our universe back into one of eternal night. Such evil blossomed through the power of the Aether, __an__ ancient force of infinite destruction."_

oOoOoOo

Hello, old readers and new readers.

Here we are. You and me on the last page.

By the time you read these words, I will be long gone from this world, so know that I lived well and was very happy. And above all else, know that you guys were the best family I had in the world and I will love you. Always.

And do one more thing for me: Tell the people the story of a girl who was from another universe, a parallel universe. Tell them the story of how she woke up one day in a fictional world that suddenly seemed so real, that she had met a lot of great heroes and tragic villains and lived with them. Tell them she had seen different worlds and met demigods.

This is the story of Jacqueline Walker, and this is how it ends.

…

… …

… … …

Nah, just kidding. I really should stop watching _Doctor Who_.

This is the very first page of 'How I Met Loki Again'. This is in fact a very special event that I think should be done into a comedy series and/or drama that looked innocent on the outside but only real fans know it's just soul crushing. I think everyone has got at least one of those shows they can relate to.

Reasons why I am telling you this story:

1) It's November 2013 now and absolutely nothing weird or adventure wise has happened to me. I see a Guinness Book of World Records entry here.

2) November 23rd, 2013 is marked as a really special day in my calendar for one main reason: The Doctor Who 50th anniversary.

3) Four months prior to said event I just_ happened_ to bump into Darcy Lewis and Erik Selvig in the open streets of New York City. I knew her, she didn't know me (duh), but Selvig recognized me more or less. He also seemed crazier after Loki's brainwashing but whatever. Darcy also just _happened_ to be a big Whovian like me. Long story short, I got invited by her to watch the 50th anniversary special in London because she just _happened_ to have tickets for that. I knew keeping in touch with her was so worth it.

4) I met Jane Foster, which is a blessing and a curse at the same time. Curse because she just _happened_ to be Thor's lover and I knew that during the alien invasion last year he did not visit her. Of course she knew he was there and that I met him. Now imagine how I feel meeting the lover of someone who missed his only chance to see Jane. It was a blessing because actress of Jane Foster = Natalie Portman = Padmé = me, the biggest _Star Wars_ nerd ever. Yeah, you get the picture.

5) Great Britain. I don't think this needs more explaining. Yorkshire dialect here I come!

6) Planets moving into one line and second alien invasion. In London. Exactly at the time when I came to visit.

7) Eheheheheheheheeee Loki. Also self-explanatory.

Basically this is the story of how an innocent trip to London turned into another big adventure. And this all happened in less than a week.

oOoOoOo

"_The noble of armies of Asgard, led by my father, King Nor, waged a mighty war against these wretches. As the nine worlds converged above him Malekith could at last unleash the Aether. But Asgard had ripped the weapon from his grasp. Without it the Dark Elves fell. With the battle all but lost Malekith sacrificed his own people in desperate attempt to lay waste to Asgard's army. Malekith was ambushed and the Aether was no more. Also we were led to believe…"_

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**First of all, a huge thanks to scullens71 who beta readed this prologue for me!**_  
_

**so yeah, basically the third fourth installement ^^ I think it would be easier to understand the story if you have read the previous few stories, but if you don't feel like doing that, feel free to PM me and I'll gladly explain the main events :)  
**

**it's still the prologue, but I'm still in the progress of writing chapter one. It's kinda going slowly for now... OTL**


	2. Chapter I

**alright, bringing the first chapter for you!**

**A huge thanks to scullens71 for beta reading it for me :D**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Jackie Walker**

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Chapter I

In Which A Beer Bottle Fell Out of Nowhere

"_I really don't see what all the fuss is about."_

"_Do you not truly feel the gravity of your crimes? Wherever you go there is war, ruin__,__ and death."_

"_I wanted to rule the people of Earth as a benevolent God, just like you."_

"_We are not Gods. We are born, we live, we die, just as humans do."_

"_Give or take five thousand years."_

"_All this because Loki desires a throne."_

"_It's my birthright!"_

"_Your birthright was to die… As a child! Cast out onto a frozen rock. If I had not taken you in you would not be here to hate me."_

"_If I had fully asked for true mercy, I'd say just swing it. It's not that I don't love __our__ little talks, it's just… I don't love them."_

"_Frigga is the only reason you are still alive and you will never see her again. You will spend the rest of your days in the dungeon."_

"_And what of Thor? You'll make the witless oaf __king__ while I rot in chains?"_

"_Thor must strive to undo the damage you have done. He will bring order to the Nine Realms and then, yes, he will be king."_

oOoOoOo

"No Steve, I did not meet any British boy, you know after last year I tend to avoid them… Yes yes, I did sleep during the long flight… Still have to get used to the time switch though… No, I did not eat three scoops of ice cream…"

"Actually she just did!" Darcy screamed into my phone as she passed me by.

I glared at her and quickly shooed her away. Darcy laughed and disappeared into the kitchen, and I carried on with my conversation on the phone. "London is beautiful, the people are really nice, and the tea is just awesome… And no, nothing happened to me yet… THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT!"

Jesus Christ! I just arrived yesterday and a certain star-spangled man has been constantly calling and texting me. I have seriously considered telling Tony he should take Steve's phone away for a good cause. Doing international calls costs a lot and I don't think SHIELD would be all too happy to see his phone bill at the end of the month.

"Yeah I got. I will call you in the evening. Bye."

I finished the call and put my phone back into my jeans pocket, letting out a tired sigh. It's November already, and almost a whole year has passed without any real incident that I got involved with. I could say, it almost looked like I could live a 'normal' live and graduate safe and sound from school next year and then finally start an ordinary college li-

DING DONG

The doorbell.

"Darcy!" I screamed through the hallway, while walking to the door "The doorbell rang!"

"Then open it!" She yelled back.

Uh huh, no way I'm going to open the door for a complete stranger. Last time I did that an Extremis soldier appeared (who was a Brit by the way), and I really don't want to have the same experience again.

So this is what I did: Standing on my tiptoes, I looked through the peep hole. On the other side of the door stood a rather weedy looking young man. He kept turning his head around nervously, as if a double-decker bus was going to drive through the hallway soon.

Deciding that he was most likely harmless, I opened the door.

"Hey." I greeted with a raised eyebrow.

"Hello. I'm Ian Boothby and I'm looking for Darcy Lewis." The weedy boy introduced himself.

"Uh, sure. Just wait a moment." Shutting the door I looked over my shoulder and started to yell again. "Darcy! There's a weird guy looking for you! He says his name is Ian Boothby!"

"Oh oh oh! That's my intern!" Came the quick response, followed by the loud noise of something crashing down (followed by an 'Oops') and the dark haired girl quickly rushed to the door and opened it, inviting the boy in.

… Right, an intern. I thought Darcy was already an intern? So basically Ian was the intern's intern? Do I even have to understand this? No wait, lemme rephrase that. Was Darcy responsible enough to take an intern under her wing? I mean this _is_ a huge responsibility. I have the feeling if Boothby doesn't follow her ordes, he might just get tazed.

I'd sell my soul to see that.

Darcy and her intern settled themselves down in the kitchen ("So intern, your first job is to clean the kitchen. We need a clean space to work"). At first I thought maybe I should just join them, and humor myself with how she was going to handle the poor intern, but then I decided it was better to just keep my distance for now. Who knows in what kind of internship mess I will get involved in. Especially since all those things are rather scientific… And that wasn't really my forte.

Carefully I made my way through the living room to the television. A lot of different kind of scientific devices – that one next to the cupboard looked like a toaster – were scattered all over the floor, so I really had to make sure I wasn't stepping on or touching any of them. Who knows what happens when I did that. I could lose a foot.

Rather ungracefully I plopped down into the couch and grabbed for the remote, though it took me a rather long time to switch on the TV and find the right channel. Admittedly, I don't own a TV at home and thus I had no idea how to use one. Sometimes I just don't get why people cannot survive without a TV. Personally I always thought that a stable Internet connection, a good computer, and Netflix was all you needed for living.

While the TV was running, I stared out to the balcony. It was more a winter garden with a door that led outside. Tables and chairs were placed there. I just remembered I haven't seen Selvig since my arrival, which I found quite odd, but dismissed the thought quickly. As far as I know, Darcy and Jane moved to London because of a scientific phenomena happening here or some jazz like that. And now he disappeared to God-knows-where.

Well, not that I wanted to talk much to him anyway. I knew he was involved with SHIELD and the Tesseract project for some time, he (probably) knew about my situation with the Tesseract energy, since they (or rather Loki) required my blood to fully activate the cube.

But I wonder how much Jane and Darcy knew about Erik and my involvement with the alien invasion. As far as I remember, SHIELD send them to somewhere safe, but just how much did they hear about it?

The first time when I met Jane Foster – which was when Darcy came to pick me up at the airport – I was really nervous. There was all those 'what if' questions running through my head. What if she doesn't like me? What if she asks me about Thor? What if she asks me about SHIELD? What if what if what if… In my defense, I have to say I had every reason to be worried. I was going to stay in their apartment for a whole week, so I think it is pretty important we get along in some way.

In a way, we do have a mutual respect for each other. But sometimes when we were alone, I feel this tension in the air. I know Jane wants to bomb me with questions, but there was that invisible force telling her not to do that.

The news started to play. Unlike Steve, I didn't really listen or watch the news every day, unless someone forces me to, so I was prepared to press the button to switch to another channel when suddenly the screen showed someone streaking in the wilderness.

The wilderness just happened to be the famous British tourist attraction, Stonehenge, and the streaker just happened to be Erik Selvig. At least the unpleasant body parts were censored for the minor audience (like me).

"I'm here at Stonehenge, for what has been an interesting unfolding of events today." The newscast lady explained to the audience "The police reported the scene shortly after 11 AM this morning, after a seemingly harmless rambler approached the area then started to strip naked and effectively terrorize tourists there with scientific equipment while shouting that he was trying to save them. The man, later identified as noted Astrophysicist Dr. Erik Selvig, has been called in for questioning by police."

Well, and here I was wondering where the heck he wandered off. But hey, glad to know he was still alive.

And naked.

Didn't Jane ask Darcy this morning about his exact whereabouts? Maybe I should tell them, or give them a hint at least.

Switching off the TV and maneuvering my way through the living room to the hallway again, I grabbed for my scarf and jacket, and popped my head into the kitchen to see how Darcy was handling the intern.

She was sitting at the table and eating chips while Ian was doing the dishes. The sight made me raise an eyebrow. Wasn't it Darcy's turn to do the dishes today?

"Hey, I'm just going out for a while, exploring and buying souvenirs, stuff like that." I told her.

"Alrighty then. Oh, can you buy more of those chips?" She held up an empty bag. It looked like _Lays_ chips, but it said _Walkers_ instead.

Heh, Great Britain renamed _Lays_ to _Walker_. I like it.

"Will do. And you might want to take a look at the news. Or not. Depending on if you want to see Selvig naked."

Before Darcy could ask what I meant with that I left the apartment with a laugh.

oOoOoOo

"_Is Vanaheim secure?"_

"_As are Nornheim and Ria, though our work would have gone more quickly with you in form."_

"_You must think I'm a piece of bread that needs to be buttered so heavily."_

"_That was not my intent."_

"_For the__ first time since the Bifrost, the Nine Realms are in peace. We're well reminded of our strength __and__ you have earned their respect and my gratitude."_

"_Thank you."_

"_Nothing out of order except your confused and distracted heart."_

"_This isn't about Jane Foster, father."_

"_Human lives are fleeting, they're nothing. You'd be better served by what lies in front of you. I'm telling you this not as the All-Father, but as your father. You are ready, the time has come for you to take the throne. Embrace__,__ celebrate what you have won. Join your warriors, eat and drink, revel in their celebration. At least pretend to enjoy yourself."_

oOoOoOo

London was certainly different from New York City.

To me, it was more _historical_.

Not that New York City didn't have any history or anything like that, but compared, to London, NYC was just meh. First of all, I love their taxis and double-decker buses, though it's gonna take me some time to get used to the left side.

Yesterday for example I walked to the right side of the car and opened the door, ready to get in, only to realize that that was actually the driver's seat. And then I had the biggest problem with getting to the other side of the street. At the end I had to tell myself I need to start to think like a Brit while walking through London.

Another thing I should get used to was their vocabulary. The word chips in Great Britain means French fries and the chips I know is called crisps here.

As I thought more about possible words I need to look up, I passed an abandoned building. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind appeared, making my hair twirl around and blocking my view.

Frantically, I shook my head around, trying to put my hair back into its place. And here I thought cutting my hair would prevent it from getting in my way.

Just like how the wind suddenly appeared, it also disappeared without great warning.

Typical London weather maybe?

Silence filled in the air, making me realized that I was in fact alone here. No sound of the wind, no cars, nothing. It was just silent. A really uncomfortable feeling began to settle down in my stomach.

In no way was I a trained assassin, or a tech genius, or a demigod. But I guess every human gets supplied with a sixth sense, and right now it was telling me that there was something not quite right.

The only problem was I did not know exactly _what_.

Well, guess there was only one way to find out.

Reaching into my trench coat pocket, I brought out my tenth Doctor sonic screwdriver (it's actually a pen with UV light, really useful for writing secret messages down). Doing my best the Doctor imitation, I stretched out my arm while holding the screwdriver – it made the sonic sound – and checked my surroundings with it.

Yep, _Doctor Who_ has completely taken over my life, and I think this was more serious than the Loki's army business last year.

And I believe that was a stupid move. I should be glad no one was here to witness that.

Maybe I was just being paranoid again. Like always.

Silently laughing at my own stupidity, I shrugged my shoulders, ready to keep walking and deliver the _crisps_ to Darcy, when suddenly right in front of my nose an empty beer bottle appeared out of nowhere, dropping to the ground.

Surprised and a bit scared at the same time, I stared at the now smashed glass pieces, and then proceed to look into every direction, wondering if there was someone who threw it at me. It _looked_ like it dropped out of nowhere, but I could have been mistaken.

… I should just keep going.

When I left that place, another gust of wind appeared, but this time I swear it was like someone was whispering something to me.

'Soon'.

It sent a shudder down my spine. Perhaps it was a bad idea to come to London.

oOoOoOo

"_There was a time you would celebrate for weeks."_

"_I remember you celebrated the battle of Haragon so much that you nearly started a second."_

"_Well, the first was so much fun… Take a drink with me. Surely the All-Father could have no further task for you tonight."_

"_No, this is one I set myself."_

"_It has not gone unnoticed that you disappear each night. There are Nine Realms. __The future__king__ of Asgard must focus on more than one."_

"_I thank you for your sword and for your counsel, good Lady Sif."_

oOoOoOo

The intern was still in their apartment when I returned, though this time he and Darcy were actually working on something. Sadly the kitchen didn't look like a kitchen anymore.

Three laptops stood on the table, each one had a different program running. It looked complicated, and it most likely was. All the laptops were connected to some scientific gadgets that were placed all over the kitchen for whatever purpose.

It was a mess. But at least the dishes were done

Good job, intern!

But this means now I have to maneuver my way through the kitchen too, just to get to the fridge. I could live without watching TV, but not taking a midnight trip to the fridge? Hell no.

I'm sure if Jane was here it wouldn't be so messy.

Speaking of her…

"I haven't seen Jane the whole day." I pointed out while throwing the bag of chips at Darcy.

Happy at the sight of food, she opened the bag and reached into it. "Dunno, meeting a guy or something like that. Lately she's been texting a Richard dude a lot." She bit into the potato chips and savored the taste "It's time to get a new guy, I mean it _has_ been already two years and – intern, don't get distracted by our gossips – and I think that Richard is a good guy."

The not-so-unimportant information Darcy revealed made me furrow my eyebrows in confusion and slight worry.

Who the fuck is Richard? And how dare Jane give up on the Golden Retriever of the Avengers for some muggle? I don't like even like his name, so I think that guy is most likely an asshole. Or just plain boring.

But then again, I guess Jane can't hang on Thor forever and ever. She has to move on sooner or later. This actually made me think of that time when I had the huggest crush on Peter Parker and it was the worst feeling in the world when I realized he was meant to be with Gwen Stacy. It wasn't helping that I actually got along well with her.

But enough about love and crushes and what not!

A device that looked like a giant calculator suddenly started to beep annoyingly. Instantly, Darcy got up from her chair and grabbed for it, staring at the screen before turning around and then shaking it.

"Why won't it stop making those noises?" She complained.

"Maybe you should hit it a few times." I suggested lamely, slightly amuse at Darcy's struggle.

She did what I told her, hit it a few times. The device did not stop making those noises though, and it was starting to get on my nerves. I noted how the screen was showing some weird signals, but to me it was just some wavy lines that kept moving in circles.

Not that it concerned me in any way.

Somewhat scared, the intern slowly raised his hand, wanting to say something. "Perhaps those are some important readings?"

Darcy looked at the intern with a that's ridiculous look, and then back at the screen. It went on for a while like this, before she widened her eyes in shock and delight, gasping: "Oh my God, those readings are similar to the readings Erik rambled about!"

I had no idea what she was talking about, but I felt like I should apply something to their conversation. "Does Jane know about it? Maybe she should take a look at it."

"She's having a lunch date with Richard." Darcy explained and put the device back on the table. "It'd be really rude to disturb them right now."

Silence.

And then slowly a smirk crept onto my face. "We _so_ gotta do that."

* * *

**well, gotta say I had a lot of fun writing it, especially since Darcy is a really fun character!**

**review please? :)**


	3. Chapter II

**I'm back with another chapter! Exam week is finally over, and hopefully I'll be able to work on this story more :) **

**A huge thanks to scullens71 for beta reading this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Jackie Walker**

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Chapter II

In Which Darcy and I Knowingly Disturbed Someone's Date

"_Hi."_

"_Hi."_

"_So what's the story with you?"_

"_Why does there have to be a story, there's no story."_

"_You've spent the __first__ ten minutes of our dating behind a menu that has three choices on it. It's either chicken, vegetarian or fish, Jane. I think there's a story and I'm thinking the story involves a guy?"_

"_It's complicated."_

"_Is he still around?"_

"_No, he… Went away."_

"_I've been there. The going away, it's hard. I'd been seeing a woman and uh… She took a job in New York, eventually the distance killed it. And… And the fact that she uh… She kept sleeping with other dudes."_

"_No!"_

"_Oh, so many."_

oOoOoOo

Finding a parking place wasn't that hard. The harder part was convincing the old stuck-up man in his suit to let us into the restaurant so we could find our dear friend Jane.

See, that's why I couldn't stand fancy places. Not only did you have to make a reservation three months ahead, the food did not even taste that good!

Past experiences taught me that the fancier a restaurant was, the less food they would have to offer. Of courro, most of the things you could order were considered as luxurious and hella expensive delicates, which were mostly served in a really small portion.

The image of a fully cooked sea cucumber from that one dinner with the Avengers suddenly came back into my mind. Since then I have been traumatized.

After convincing the old man that it was really an urgent matter and we just have to find our friend, he let out a heavy sigh and finally let us through.

Now Darcy and I were standing dumbly in the middle of the restaurant, looking around for Jane. Shouldn't be that hard to find her, I mean there aren't _that_ many people here. I do wonder how Jane's date looked like. Quickly scanning the area, I noticed that that restaurant wasn't that fancy, but it was still a really nice one. The view was certainly great.

"Look, I found them!" Darcy tugged at my sleeve and pointed at said love birds.

Following Darcy's finger with my eyes, I spotted Jane sitting on a table not far away from the window. She had her back to us, and was mostly hidden behind a menu card. Richard's face was visible though.

I don't like him.

With another tug Darcy dragged me to their tables. As we approached them, Jane's date raised his hand and asked for some wine, to which I simply made a face. Obviously since he was staring directly at us he was talking to me and Darcy, but honestly, did we look like we were working here?

With a huge grin, Darcy pulled two chairs from the neighbor table. "Sure, I'd love some." She replied and then gestured me to sit down beside her.

I was starting to think that I should have stayed outside. Not was it really rude to butt in while Jane and Richard were having a conversation, we were also _eating their food_. Well okay, Darcy started to butter a piece of bread like she was invited too. I just sat there with my hands folded together on my lap, looking back and forth between Jane, Darcy, and Richard.

Just glancing at Jane's red face, I could tell she wished the ground below her would just open up and swallow her. Completely understandable. I mean, if I was in the same situation as her and Steve suddenly appeared I'd wish for the same thing too.

Clearing her throat awkwardly, Jane pointed at the brunette next to me. "Richard, this is Darcy." And then at me. "And this is Jackie."

"Oh hello." Richard greeted us, which we both returned with a smile and a small wave.

Jane then hissed at us, half embarrassed, half angry: "What are you two doing here?"

While Darcy explained in not-such-great-details what kind of Nobel Price discovery we made recently, I helped myself with to the bread sticks that were on the table. I noticed Richard giving me a look but wisely ignored it. The way I saw it was simple: I did not know that guy, he did not know me, and I will most likely never see him again for the rest of my life. So why should I care what he thought of me now?

Besides, I was really hungry and bread sticks usually tasted good.

"Right. You know that scientific equipment you don't look at anymore?" Darcy inquired and then nudged my shoulder, telling me to take out that oversized calculator "You might wanna start looking at it now."

Obeying Darcy's order, I reached into her backpack and took out the thing. Thankfully it has stopped making that annoying noise, but it was still showing some complicated signs that I did not understand.

"We came all the way here to show you this." I added, in hope Jane wouldn't be that angry at us for disturbing her date just because there was something she needed to see. Although when I said that out loud, it sounded rather sarcastic.

Hesitantly Jane took the gadget and stared at it with furrowed eyebrows, thinking hard. "It's malfunctioning!"

"That's what she said." I mumbled under my breath and pointed at Darcy.

Not expecting Jane to violently hit the gadget against the table, Richard flinched at the sudden movement while people from other tables turned their head around and gave us an annoyed glare.

"That's what I did too!" Darcy referred to the hitting-the-gadget-on-the-table "But you just hit a little more scientificly."

I watched how the astrophysicist furrowed her brows in concentration, staring at the screen intently. It was basically the same face expression Bruce Banner had when he was trying to solve a difficult Sudoku riddle.

Finally, she breathed out: "I'm sure it's nothing."

Was she trying to convince Richard about it or herself?

Seeing as Jane most likely won't change her mind and suddenly feeling guilty for disturbing them (even though it was kinda my idea at the beginning) I sighed and stood up, putting the chairs back where Darcy got them.

"Maybe we should leave now." I suggested to Darcy, who in turn looked slightly disappointed but didn't object. So she also stood up and packed the gadget back into the backpack.

But before we completely left the room, Darcy turned back and shouted loudly: "It didn't look like nothing. Kind of like the readings that Erik was rambling about!"

There used to be a time where I dragged Bertie around with me and then randomly shouted things at people. I always thought that was funny. Bertie of course was always mortified when I did that and up until now I did not understand why.

Now I know how embarrassing it actually was to walk around with someone like me. Or Darcy.

oOoOoOo

"_Short but sweet."_

"_They need help."_

"_I think I'm gonna have the sea bass."_

"_Sea bass. Yeah, sea bass is good… Sea bass, sea bass, sea bass, sea bass, sea bass, sea bass, sea bass… Sea bass. Sea bass…"_

"_Jane, maybe you should stop __saying __sea bass and go to your friends."_

"… _This was so fun."_

"_You know, I'll just stay here and say sea bass alone."_

oOoOoOo

There are a lot of things in this world a person would expect, and then there are things a person would _not_ expect. I always expected Clint Barton to be the kind of person to collect all the Angry Bird merchandise his hands can get on, but he would keep it as a secret because he's got a reputation to uphold. And sometimes, there are things that you did not expect to be this way, simply because it was too dreadful to believe.

For instants, I kinda expected that Steve wasn't blessed with the ability to cook, but I honestly did not expect him to be able to burn water. How does that even work?

I also did not expect Coulson to be alive, but well, apparently life enjoyed to prove me wrong and give me the shock of a lifetime. Then again, this _was_ the MARVEL universe I was in, and I guess I should just live with the saying 'Always expect the unexpected'.

It was unexpected that I would be stuck with the Avengers but it happened. Basically life sucks.

Right now, I did not expect Darcy Lewis to be the type of person who listens to heavy metal on her iPod with a headset, music turned up to the fullest volume. Legs were propped up against the car's dashboard.

Didn't SHIELD take her iPod away that time in New Mexico?

I sat in the backseat along with Ian Boothby. He was checking something on Google Maps, while I was tasked with staring at the restaurant entry for the moment for Jane to come out.

According to Darcy, we have already successfully sparked her interest, so it was only a matter of time before she ditched Richard.

Well, Jane does seem to be the type of person who would do that…

True enough, finally after fifteen minutes, the brunette emerged out of the restaurant in a slight hurry. She looked around a bit, before spotting us in the car.

"I hate you." She claimed as she opened the door and got in.

Darcy put her legs down and iPod away, starting the engine. "What?! I thought he was cute."

"No, he was not…" I muttered under my breath, which only got me a glare from Jane

"Just shut up and drive." She commanded.

"Aye aye Captain."

oOo

The car stopped in front of a factory.

It was an old abandoned factory.

I don't know why we stopped here, but I guess I'm about to find that out.

Beside Jane's shock seeing a complete stranger in the back of the car (AKA Ian Boothby), hearing about Erik's streaking session, and experiencing Darcy's driving talent in London, nothing exciting happened.

I guess Jane has forgiven us for destroying her date. But this was an urgent matter. Although I don't know why I came along with them. I mean, I could have stayed back, do some sightseeing tours, or visit Madame Tussaud and take a lot of photos with some wax figures.

I wonder if they have a Tom Hiddleston one.

The factory was, as I have mentioned before, old and abandoned. The sky was grey, giving the surroundings a more eerie feeling.

Nervously, I got out of the car. "… What are we doing here?"

"Well, apparently the signals are coming from here." Jane muttered, also getting out of the car and looked around. Although there was absolutely nothing special about this place, she pretended there was just something out of the ordinary.

I couldn't help but feel how a shudder went down my spine. There was this weird tingling sensation under my skin, which made me really worried and anxious. Was is me or did it had something to do with the Tesseract? I really hope it's not acting up again.

"Hey Darcy, isn't this called trespassing?" I called out "I mean, this is private property."

"Don't see this as trespassing, we're simply some American tourists doing urban exploring and other stuff like that."

The unimpressed look Jane was giving her didn't change Darcy's attitude about this whole idea even a little bit. She even added: "Come on, this is exciting! Look, the intern is excited."

Actually, Ian Boothby didn't even look a little bit excited. Rather annoyed.

I bet he's starting to regret doing this internship now.

As I followed the scientists into the building (Darcy: "Inter, the entrance is this way.") we started to hear noises. They sounded like footsteps. I perked up my ears, trying to find the exact location of where it came from, but only found out there were most likely more than one person.

If those were the bad guys then we were doomed. I certainly cannot fight for shit and that intern didn't look like he could punch someone either.

"I am not getting stabbed in the name of science." Darcy commented on that noise.

Jane only sent another glare in her direction, while I had to grin widely. "No, but I am ready to get stabbed in the name of the Doctor." To prove my point, I grabbed into my pocket and took out my screwdriver, showing it to Darcy.

Oh yeah, I simply cannot wait for the 50th anniversary special.

And suddenly another shudder went down my spine, but this time, it was more… Intense than before. I did not like this one bit.

Lowering the screwdriver down, I stared at the exit. My instinct was telling there was some powerful force hidden here. Past experience taught me it's better not to do anything stupid now.

Perhaps I should just wait outside for them.

Yeah, I'm gonna do that.

Clearing my throat loudly to get their attention, I pointed at the entrance slightly embarrassed. "If it's okay with you guys, I'd like to wait outside."

I noticed how they were exchanging worried glances, but nodded. Flashing them a thankful smile I wasted no time to get out of this old building and hurried to the car.

One could say I was acting like a coward in this moment, but in my defense I came to London for a special event, not some scientific research that could lead to another misadventure.

Letting out a tired sigh, I leaned against the car (It was locked) and took out my phone so I could listen to some music. God knows how long they will need to find anything. And for once, I was actually alone. But not in a bad way. I was by myself and there was no one watching me.

Or maybe there was. Coulson did mention once that I was on the list of being a potential threat.

Every time I thought about that – and I thought about it a lot – had to snort at it, thinking how laughable it was that SHIELD would think a teenager like me could be a potential threat to the world. Please, I could barely survive my math exam.

The Destroyer was a threat.

HYDRA was a threat.

Mutants were threat.

Aldrich Killian was a threat.

I am not a threat.

It's the Tesseract that was a threat. And who can blame me for having that thing coursing through my veins? I did not ask for it! It just somehow ended up this way!

The seconds passed, slowly turning into ten minutes, which turned into twenty minutes. And after forty-five minutes I was starting to get a little bit worried. Sure, they were scientists and probably took their sweet time to search through the whole building, but not even Tony Stark would take that long!

Maybe something did happen to them?

What if Darcy tripped and broke her leg?

What if they fell through a wormhole into another dimension?

What if they got kidnapped by space aliens?

Or worse, what if Slenderman actually got them? I could basically see it in front of me, the three of them cornered and Slenderman standing in front of them…

Jesus, I need to calm the fuck down. I mean, it's just an old building. That was sending off some strange signals. Or else we wouldn't be here.

Letting out a sigh, I ran hand through my hair, staring at the entrance, waiting for Jane, Darcy," and Ian to come back any minute.

I stretched my whole body, ready to waltz and look for them, when a strong gust of wind blew by. At the same time it felt like something inside me was _cooking_, making me jerk forward and clutch my stomach and going down onto my knees. It was foreign feeling, and something like this has never happened to me before.

I really should go inside and look for them.

Good thing it didn't take me too long to find Darcy and Ian. They were on the fourth floor (along with some kids), throwing random things down. Funny how the things never reached the ground.

"What are you doing?!" I shouted up to them, since I was still standing on the ground floor.

"Throwing things down! Darcy yelled back "You gotta check this out, it's real fun!"

Raising an eyebrow, I went up the stairs to see this phenomenal nature spectacle that was happening in this building. Did they just spend a whole hour standing there and throwing things down? And where was Jane?

Reaching them, I leaned over the railing and looked down at the ground below us. There really were not things lying around. Hm, I want to test this too.

"Give me something to throw down." I ordered to practically no one, but it seemed like the intern felt like he was obliged to follow my orders and handed me some keys. Turning to Darcy, I asked: "So I just throw it down?"

Nodding eagerly, she urged me to try it out, which I did. I stretched out my arm and then let the keys fall down. In less than a second, they disappeared. I waited for the chingling sound of the keys being dropped onto the ground, but they never came.

Turning back to Darcy, we both looked at each other with a huge smirk, that basically promised a lot of wild things we could so with this… Thing.

But then she frowned, and stared at the intern: "Were those the car keys?"

oOoOoOo

"_You're late,"_

"_Merriment can sometimes be a heavier burden than battle."_

"_Then you're doing one of them incorrectly.__"_

"_Perhaps. How fare the stars?"_

"_Still shining. From here I can see Nine Realms and ten trillion souls. You recall what I told you of the Convergence?"_

"_Yes, the alignment of the worlds. It approaches, doesn't it?"_

"_The universe hasn't seen this marvel since before my watch began. Few can sense it, even fewer can see it. A world that's infected can be dangerous. It is truly beautiful."_

"_I see nothing."_

"_Or perhaps that is not the beauty you seek."_

"_How is she?"_

"_She's quite clever, your mortal. She doesn't know it yet, but she studies the Convergence as well. Even… "_

"_What?"_

"_I can't see her."_

* * *

**also, recently got my love for One Piece back, Trafalgar Law totally caught my eyes :D **

**Soooo... Any Traff-guy fanfiction recommendation :3**


	4. Chapter III

**A huge thanks to scullens71 for beta reading my stories!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Jackie Walker**

* * *

Chapter III

In Which There Was No Wall Behind Me

"Where is Miss Foster?"

The intern stood there rather awkwardly with his back turned to us, face staring down at another complicated device. It was a pathetic sight, but I guess I'd feel the same way if I accidentally handed someone the car key instead of a rock. Or a shoe.

I just hope it wasn't a really long walk back into their apartment. At least there weren't many stuff we had to carry back. I guess the only problem would be to get their car off the private property, because if someone saw that they'd surely know some wannabe scientists were trespassing – in the name of science, might I add.

But right now, he was the only one who asked the million dollar que(stion.

Where indeed was Jane Foster? I haven't seen her since I came back to look for them.

Darcy took a bag of chips from her backpack and opened it. "She said she was going to check something." Reaching into the bag, she took one chip out and started to loudly crunch on it.

"And let me guess, that was like an hour ago?" I concluded with a raised eyebrow.

"… Yup."

We stared at each other for a long time, both of us thinking the same thing: Where the heck was our astrophysicist and how the hell were we supposed to look for her in this big abandoned building? Who knows how many hidden room there were. What if she got kidnapped?

Just like God ascending down from heaven, Ian Boothby gave us an answer for our never ending questions.

He held up what looked like to be an old NOKIA cell phone –the classical one that was nearly indestructible – and suggested carefully: "Uh, how about we just give her a call?"

Well, why didn't we think about that before? Darcy quickly fished out her cell phone, pressed few numbers and put the phone on loudspeaker, so we could follow the whole conversation, for whatever reason.

The phone beeped.

Once.

Twice.

And a third time.

Finally someone picked up.

"_The number you are calling is currently not available…"_

"You think Jane is at least smart enough to switch on her phone?" I dared to ask.

"I don't know…" Darcy replied "She doesn't even know how to switch ringtones."

Well, that's rather awkward for a scientist who can turn an old toaster into something really useful.

I sucked in a deep breath, slowly letting my eyes wander around the place. Should we just stay here and wait for Jane to show up or actually split up and look for her?

Personally, I don't think that something would really happen to her. I mean, we are here simply because the device showed us some readings that were identical to the one from New Mexico, if nothing else.

Then I widened my eyes.

New Mexico. Strange readings. Weird stuff happening around this building and me having weird panic-like attacks? Shit, there really_ is_ something happening! Of course, this was just a thought of mine, but who knows just how much of it was true? I could be exaggerating, worrying too much, making drama out of nothing.

"I think we really should look for Jane." I announced.

"But what if she comes back and we're not here?"

To that the intern took out a piece of paper and scribbled a quick message down, pinning it onto the wall. It basically said that we were looking for her, should she not find us just go to the car and wait there.

Seeing that I took out my cell phone. "Okay, we split up, and let's say meet back in an hour at the car. In case someone finds her, we'll just give each other a call." I browsed through my contacts to make sure that I had their cell phone numbers, and added Ian to my contacts as well.

On a side note, I noticed for the first time that my contact list consisted of Bertie, Bruce, Steve, Natasha, Peter, Pizza Hut delivery service and Tony USA, Tony Germany, Tony China, and countless other Tony [insert country] numbers (he's a business man and therefore uses a lot of foreign numbers depending on where he was at the moment).

When I looked up from my screen, the two were already gone, leaving me there with my phone like an idiot.

… Right, time to look for a certain astrophysicist.

Letting out a deep breath, I put my phone away and started to walk into a random direction, in hopes we would find Jane as soon as possible and get the away from this place.

oOo

As I stood by the car, fifty minutes has already passed.

Yes, we did say to meet up back in an hour, but for me being on time means showing up ten minutes earlier.

While I was searching down the whole building, I passed Ian and Darcy twice by, but we always went separate ways. Now that I was standing here and waiting for them, I had to think about some horror movies where the protagonist always split up and looked for something or someone and that's how they got bloody killed at the end.

I just hope the same thing doesn't happen to us.

Thankfully that scenario won't be happening because I spotted Darcy and Ian walking out of the building at the same time, both wearing worried expressions.

As an answer I took out my phone again and dialed Jane' number, hoping and praying and begging for her to pick up. But it was the answering machine again.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, I stared at Ian and Darcy, waiting for them to say something.

"Maybe we should call the police." The intern suggested meekly.

I pressed my lips into a thin line. "That's our only option left, huh?"

Darcy nodded and then fished out her own cell phone.

I was worried about something else. What were we supposed to tell the police when they arrive?

Yeah, we were doing some urban exploring shit, but instead of cameras we brought cool looking scientific devices because according to them there is some magic stuff happening in this wonderful building. By the way officer, you really need to check out that one trick from the fourth floor.

And if they did see that, they'll surely call the special operation, which will eventually lead to SHIELD agents crawling all over the place, and this will lead to Steve hearing about that and then I will get the lecture of my life about trespassing and stuff like that.

Ugh, I hate Mondays.

oOo

"Your names?"

"Darcy Lewis."

"Ian Boothby."

"Jacqueline Walker."

The police grunted as he scribbled our names down on a note pad.

"May I see your IDs?"

Ian being a resident Brit simply took out his ID, while Darcy and I are both required to take out our passport. I've always envied the Americans for their beautiful passport. There was that really cool print of an eagle inside it that just screamed freedom.

Back to the point.

Why the heck was the police asking for our identity when obviously Jane was the missing one here? Up until now they haven't done anything useful.

Frowning, I stuffed my hands into my jeans pocket and stared at the building, tuning out the conversation Darcy and the police were having now. Since she was majoring in politic science, I just automatically assumed she'd be good at the talking and explaining stuff.

The intern stood beside her, confirming everything with a firm nod.

And what was I doing?

Nothing.

I continued to stare at the entrance. It felt like the longer I stared, the more I wanted to go inside and just _disappear from this world_. Something was hidden inside it, something foreign and alien, and, silently yet very clearly, it was calling out for someone to look for it.

And I guess right in that moment I felt like I should search for that thing.

oOo

Truth to be told, I did like old buildings. There was just something alluring about them. You see one, and you know that a long time ago it was used for something. The building was filled with people going in and out day by day.

It was alive.

And then slowly but surely, people were leaving. Something happened inside the building that was making them leave. Maybe something went wrong, or someone died, or something unexpected happened, and they simply couldn't stay anymore.

Because staying meant having to face the painful memories every day, and the hurt was eating you from the inside out, until you don't know who you were or what you're supposed to do. The only solution was to leave and move on.

Sure, leaving and moving on is hard.

Until you actually do it. Then it's the godamn easiest thing in the world.

Or so I thought as I stared at the giant graffiti that was plastered all over the wall.

Smirking sarcastically to myself, I stepped closer to the graffiti wall, letting my left hand ghosting over it, but not exactly touching.

Wow, now that I was standing in front of a rainbow wall, I suddenly felt really bad for just walking away like that. Not only did I let them deal with the police alone, I didn't even tell them I went away.

Though I am a tad bit surprised no one noticed anything. Hopefully they won't think I went missing too.

I should head back now.

But I really don't want to.

There was just something mesmerizing about this wall, even though it looked like any other wall from the outside. But I could _feel _that behind this wall was more. Maybe it was the Tesseract again. By now I have accepted the fact that this cosmic energy was acting like a shield or out-of-space-detector. Which was kind of cute for an outer space cube but also creepy at the same time.

My cell phone, suddenly interrupting my train of thoughts.

Slightly panicked I hastily fished out my phone and stared at the screen.

Incoming call from Darcy Lewis.

Eh, and here I was wondering whether they noticed I walked away or not.

Sighing deeply, I pressed the green button and leaned against the wall, wanting to explain to her that she should chill the hell out, I was okay and only staring at a graffiti wall inside this wonderful building.

The keyword was wanted.

I did press the green button and opened my mouth to deliver my explanation, but instead a rather surprised scream escaped from my lips because suddenly _there was no wall behind me to lean on_.

For a nanosecond I felt another surge of electricity-like feeling coursing through my veins. And then, like a swimmer doing a failed ass cannon dive into the bath tub, I landed ungracefully on the cold hard ground.

Oh, and did I mention the ground was slightly muddy too?

I found that odd because last time I checked, the building was made of hard concrete, covered in dust and glass shards.

Not earth or mud.

Confused and angry at the same time, I got up from the ground, dusted myself off and then stared back at my cell phone. The service bar said 'No Service'.

Excuse me, but which part of an abandoned building doesn't support phone service?

The answer of course appeared right next to me in form of a sheep, much to my surprise and shock. The sight of that animal made me yelp and jump back, which lead into me bumping into a person.

"Oi lass, watch where yer going!" the person snarled.

Clumsily I turned around and hold up both of my hands in a slightly defensive manner. "S-Sorry…"

"Hmph, the youth these days."

Normally I would retort something sarcastically back, but this time I simply _couldn't_. The man standing in front of me was in his mid-fifties, but that's not what had me so shocked. It was more of the clothes he was wearing that made me suspicious.

Don't get me wrong, usually I'm not the kind of person to judge a person by the way they dress, but this was just so… Old fashioned.

He was wearing what looked to be a long sleeved toga, with baggy trousers and roman sandals. On his back he was carrying a basket, on his right he held a staff while the left hand gripped a rope that was attached to the sheep's neck.

Where the fuck am I?

I let my eyes wander around. It was a bit dark, on both sides was a tall wall. Looking up I could make out a clear blue sky, and from somewhere far away noises could be heard. So I guess I was in a dark alleyway?

The old man walked away, and I decided to follow him on a safe distance, since obviously I had no idea where I was. Theoretically, I should be in the old building, but as you can see, I was not there.

I landed on a big street that was just bursting with life. Men and women, children of all ages were strolling around the place, talking and buying and playing around.

Well, of course this was something you'd also see in Oxford street in London, so allow me to list some facts why it was still so out of place for me.

1) It was a market place. The kind of where people basically shout out their lungs with the best thing they had to offer, thus making hearing things a little harder.

2) Their clothes. It looked really old fashioned, like they just came out of the ancient Greece or Rome, but at the same time there was also something that made it look so… Unique and brand new.

3) The buildings around them. Old and yet new. Basically it was architecture I had never seen in books or movies before. Really fantasy-like.

4) And no matter what gender you were, somehow they all looked so shamefully handsome and beautiful. Compared to them, I felt like a plain old potato.

Sheesh, where the heck did I end up? One minute, I was in London and now I was in a Hogsmead-like place.

The longer I stared at the scene before me, the more my head began to feel dizzy, to the point I had to support myself on a wall to make sure I wouldn't crash onto the ground. Is this a dream or reality? What comes next, the TARDIS materializing before me? Well, wouldn't really surprise me, I mean, I did end up in the MARVEL universe somehow…

So I guess it was just a matter of time before that actually happens? Gosh, I really want to meet the Ninth Doctor in real life.

I closed my eyes and took few deep breaths, trying to calm down my nerves. Instead of hearing the familiar TARDIS whooshing sound, a deep yet attractive voice echoed right next to me.

"May I help you, young lady?"

I opened my eyes and turned to the source of the voice. A man with golden blond hair and dashing white teeth stood tall and proud in a full armor next to me, staring down at me. A sword was attached to his hip.

"Uh yea, I mean no." I stuttered out nervously. "Where am I?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Well, you are on Asgard, of course!"

I blinked. "Excuse me? I'm on _Asgard_?" I repeated, or rather shouted out.

He looked slightly taken aback by my sudden outburst, though his voice remained calm. "Do forgive me if I sound rude, but your attire looks very… Uncommon."

Hearing that, I automatically looked down to see what clothes I was wearing, or simply to check what was so 'uncommon' about them. Sorry, but I think between the two of us he was the one wearing full armor, not me.

"I'm from- well, planet Earth?" I offered.

He merely looked confused, probably not knowing what I was talking about. Jesus Christ, did I really end up on Asgard? Was there a hidden portal somewhere? Oh my God, what if Jane was here too?

"Jane Foster." I said.

Now the guy furrowed his eyebrows.

"Have you perhaps seen a woman this tall," I held up my head slightly above myself "brown hair, obsessed with science, her name is Jane Foster. Have you seen someone like this walking around here?"

"Is she your friend?"

"Yeah, no. Indirect. I'm friend with her intern, Darcy Lewis." I honestly don't know why I was spilling out such information, but I guess right now it was important for me to know whether Jane was here or not.

Blondie looked at me from head to toe, thinking deeply about something, which only made me more nervous.

"Are you perhaps a mortal form Midgard?"

Midgard? What was that again? Oh right, the Norse term for planet Earth. I confirmed his question with a firm nod.

Suddenly, he let out a loud chuckle and clapped his hands. "Well, a friend of Darcy Lewis is also a friend of mine!"

"You know… Darcy?" I inquired, not sure whether I understood it correctly or not.

The man nodded happily. "Pretty woman, for a mortal. A shame I could not stay longer on Midgard that day for I had to look for a good friend of mine."

He was on Midgard? He knew Darcy? He was looking for a friend of his? Slowly the dots were connecting. Oh my, he's not-

"Are you Fandral the Dashing from the Warriors Three?!"

"So even the mortal from Midgard has heard about my dashing good looks!"

This would make so much sense! I remember from the Thor movie that Lady Sif and her three assistants travelled via Bifrost to New Mexico to get Thor's ass back to Asgard because Loki was being a shitty king. That time I shipped Darcy and Fandral, simply because he gave her a goodbye kiss on her hand. But now when I look at the Fandral standing in front of me, he looked a little bit different from what I remembered.

Eh well, people do change in two years.

This is bad and good at the same time. Bad because I'm on motherfucking Asgard and the others don't know that and I have no phone service, but on the bright side I just ran into someone who could help me.

Not that'd I need any help, I could simply walk back into the alleyway and try to get through the wall again, hoping I would end up back in London. But now having that womanizer talking to me makes it look rude if I'd just walk away.

"Say uh," I approached the subject carefully "do you suppose it's possible I can see… Prince Thor?"

I assume it would be weird if I'd call him Thor without his title. Okay, If I was on Earth I'd just scream Thor to the sky, but this was Asgard, and I can only imagine how inappropriate it would be if I just call the future king by his name without title and all that jazz.

Fandral quirked an eyebrow at my strange request, and then covers his mouth behind his hand, turning away. By the way his shoulders were shaking I can just guess he was trying his hardest to suppress his laughter.

My cheeks grew hot, and I averted my eyes away from him. I guess it's not every day the great warrior meets a meekly mortal who wants to see the mighty Thor.

It seemed like he finally calmed down. Whipping an imaginary tear away, he said "Oooh, that was a good one."

"He… Is a prince, right?"

"But it sounds funny when a mere mortal says that!"

Oh wow, barely knowing him for ten minutes and I already wanted to punch that handsome face of his. Biting the inside of my cheek, I told him: "This mortal here has got a name and it's Jackie Walker. Got it memorized?"

Why was I quoting Axel from _Kingdom Hearts_? And who the fuck cares whether he called me a mortal?

I do because this guy was possibly the key to find Thor and/or Jane. My theory is that if we could not reach that woman on her cell phone and did not find her, she must have disappeared somehow and seeing now that there is this portal thing I can only imagine to where.

"Lady Jackie Walker?" Fandral repeated thoughtfully to himself while stroking his chin. Then he snapped his finger like he finally remembered something. "Ah!_ The_ Lady Jackie Walker!"

What? What is he talking about? Does he know me? Do I know him? Does Asgard know I exist? I get the feeling the more I talked to him, the more questions I will have.

Slowly taking few steps back into the alleyway, I pointed at particular nothing. "Listen, it was nice to meet you, but I really have to go back, because my friends are thinking I went missing or some shit like that, and uh yeah. Bye."

Sadly, like every time when I attempted to get out of an awkward situation, there was always that one jackass who just has to grab me by my upper arm to hold me back and oh-so-nicely insist that I just have to stay here for whatever reasons.

Naturally, this time I got dragged off by Fandral to God knows where.

Well, I wasn't really worried about that though. What concerned me more was that once he drags me away, I won't be able to find this alleyway again, and thus will have to stay on Asgard for some time, which wasn't quite my plan since I had a 50th Anniversary special to watch.

Oh boy, what I have got myself into again?


	5. Chapter IV

**a huge thanks to sculles71 for beta reading this chapter for me!  
**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Jackie Walker**

* * *

Chapter IV

In Which Jane Arrives on Asgard

"_Jane! Where the hell were you? Is Jackie with you?"_

"_What, no. She's not. Didn't she stay in the car?"_

"_Me, Jackie and the intern went looking for you! But now we can't find Jackie either…"_

"_Tell me you didn't call the police!"_

"_What were we supposed to do?"_

"_Not call the police!"_

"_We were freaking out!"_

"_You call the cops they tell the feds, the next thing you know we have SHIELD crawling all over the area fifty-one and wanting the place."_

"_Jane!"_

"_We had a stable gratification anomaly, we had unheeded access. Our only competition was ten years old!"_

"_Jane, you were gone for five hours! And Jackie is still not back."_

"_What?"_

oOoOoOo

I am not a morning person.

I'm not even an afternoon person.

I pretty much start functioning after six PM.

Which is really not advantageous because I'm also the kind of person that prefers to stay home after nine PM.

Partly because I don't know that many people I could go out with at this time, and partly because I'm not the most social person you'll meet. Also because I have Steve Rogers as my neighbor for the last one and half years and I think this pretty much explains why I don't go out after nine PM.

Of course, I don't know what time it was on Asgard right now, or if they even have a 24 hour day routine, but I'm guessing that since the Warriors Three and Lady Sif were sitting in a pub drinking and gossiping it would be somewhat in the evening, after a long tiring day of work?

"Fair Lady, pass us another round of ale!"

I rubbed my poor right ear as the booming voice of Volstagg exploded next to me. On my left side Lady Sif silently sipped on her own mug of ale while rolling her eyes. She didn't look very happy, maybe a little bit sad and annoyed. Either way, I can see she wasn't fully enjoying herself.

Hereby I suggest giving Lady Sif the highest awards planet Midgard has got to offer. Give her an Oscar, give her the Golden Camera, the Bambi Award, the bravery medal and the new established Nobel Price for Woman, who has to endure days and days with men.

Because let's face it, not matter how gentlemen-like they might act, men are pigs. Especially during meal time. Or at least that's the impression I got whenever there was dinner with _some_ men I happen to know. CoughSteveTonyandPetercough.

No really, I swear to God(s), every time when those three idiot plan to have a dinner it _always_ has to be in my apartment (according to Tony he wants to see how the 'common folks' have family dinner). But the catch is that neither Tony nor Steve nor Peter knows how to cook. And guess whose job is to play the cook? Exactly, this person (me) here.

No matter how old you are or how good your mommy raised you to be a gentleman, there will always be that one moment where you lose yourself during dinner and then act totally un-gentlemenly. I mean okay, Fandral was eating fine – for now- and Hogun hasn't even touched his plate yet. But I'm betting on Clint Barton's secret collection of Angry Birds merchandise that Thor eats without table manner too.

Here a few examples what boys/guys/men/Tony does during meals:

They start to laugh without any reason, until the soup comes out of their nose.

Make little balls out of bread and then proceed to catapult them with a spoon.

Stare at each other, burst out laughing and spray the food that was in their mouth in every direction.

Testing how far soup splashed when you hit it with a spoon (although that was actually me).

Stuff their mouth full like hamsters before the winter.

Chewing with an open mouth.

Cut everything into tiny little pieces and then proceed to shove them into their mouth with a spoon while leaning on the table with one arm (that was me too).

Pick their nose and/or ears.

Scratch their back with a fork.

Or at least that's what I observed. Right now Volstagg is totally committing number five, six and eight. What made me think that sitting between a grumpy Sif and a forever hungry Volstagg would be a good idea?

Oh right, I didn't have any choice in the matter since I was basically dragged here and then plopped down onto the next best free seat available.

Thanks for nothing, Fandral.

Said person was seated opposite of me. Flashing me a charming smile, he pointed at the full mug before me and asked: "Are you not fond of our ale, Lady Jackie?"

"I don't drink." I blurted out, eyeing the mug with distrust. God knows how strong the alcohol here was. I have had my fair share of beers, but I've never really tried the hard core stuff like vodka or bailey or rum before.

Fandral let out a laugh and nudged Hogun's elbow, telling him that I didn't drink like it was something funny. Hogun, the Asian looking-like warrior grunted in response and took a sip of his own mug. He preferred to stay silent, only giving two or three word answers when someone talked to him or he was asked to say something. So far I like him the most.

Oh boy, do I want to be back in London now.

A trip to Asgard was definitely not planned. I mean, it's really nice that I did not have to pay for… Bifrost tickets or anything like that, but still, such a surprise was not something I liked.

"So, Lady Jackie." Volstagg started a conversation as he put his mug down, wiping his mouth with his sleeves "Our friend Thor mentioned you before! Never thought we would meet face to face one day!"

"Oh, he did?" I inquired politely with a slight happy smile. I didn't peg myself for someone who was quite memorable, so it made me happy that the Golden Retriever of the Avengers actually mentioned me to his friends and they remembered it. How long ago was that, one and half years?

Thor, Natasha and Birdie are those people I didn't have that much contact with. Steve literally lives next door – an arrangement made by SHIELD to keep a better eye on both of us. Tony, well, once you know him it's too late to back out of the friendship. Not that I'm complaining much though. And then there's Bruce Banner. I see him from time to time when I get dragged to the STARK tower. I only happen to bump into Natasha and Clint out in public when they're having a free day.

But Thor, I have only met twice in my life. One time on the Helicarrier, when we were arguing about the Bilchsteim and the T-Rex, and a second time in Central Park, when I gave Loki a… Hug.

Sweet Jesus Christ, I gave the God of Mischief a hug and told him about 'my world'. Gosh, has it been really that long? Although I will admit I pushed those memories into the deepest and darkest corner of my mind, trying not to think about it way too much.

I certainly don't regret doing that – God knows how much he needed one – but it's just… Loki is considered a criminal on Asgard and I don't want to know how the Warriors Three and Lady Sif will react once they know I actually hugged Loki.

And I doubt I'd get the special privilege to pay him a visit in the dungeon either.

After all, I am just a 'mere mortal'.

Trying to push those thoughts aside, I put my hands on the table and asked with a small grin: "What did Thor tell you?"

"Something about a… Oh, what was it called again?" Fandral turned to Hogun.

"Tyrannosaurus Rex, the ancestor of the chicken." Hogun deadpanned.

Okay… The Thunder God told them about our short lived conversation. Interesting.

"He also mentioned his new friends. 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes'." Sif added.

I snapped my finger at that. "That's the Avengers!"

"The Avengers?" Fandral repeated and then praised "What a marvelous name!"

Then we talked.

We talked a lot.

We talked about Asgard, about Midgard. They shared their adventures with me and in return I told them about Spider Man, the Giant Lizard and Extremis and how Pepper Potts saved the day.

We laughed a lot, and you could tell by the way they were acting around each other they were really good friends. It felt weird to be sitting with them at a table and watch their bickering, but it wasn't that bad. In fact, it was a lot like you just met some people and it turns out they are the kind you can warm up to really soon and just talk about anything with them.

They were so…_ Human_.

Which for me was something really surprising. I try not to think about it too much, but sometimes there was just that tiny little voice in the back of my head telling me that all those things around me – and the people – were fictional. Well, in this case they would be double fictional characters since MARVEL based them of their Norse Myth counterparts.

Getting to know the Avengers was already awesome enough but now meeting true warriors of Asgard? That's a whole level up!

Smirking to myself, I leaned back on my chair and took a look outside the window. The sky was darker than before I arrived here, making me wonder how long I have been away.

And suddenly I realized that I was no better than Jane.

"Okay, I think I really should go back to Ea-Midgard." I corrected myself mid sentence, standing up.

Hogun stared at me with an unreadable expression and then bluntly asked: "Do you know how to get back there?"

I raised an eyebrow and pressed my lips into a thin line.

Hm, good question. I suppose the same way back would be an option? Although they do have the Bifrost. I wonder it's finally repaired.

Sif put her mug down and stated: "You did not come through the Bifrost, did you?"

Damn, can that woman read minds?

The cheers on the table slowly died down, and then silence hung in the air. All eyes were trained on me. Let me tell you, having four professional trained warriors staring at you was definitely not a good feeling.

Licking my dry lips, I tried to explain my situation to them. Starting from the abandoned building to the things disappearing mid-air, taking a detour at the missing-Jane story, calling the cops and finally ending with me wanting to lean against a wall and instead falling through it.

Short and simple. Without much fuss. Although I have to admit, the explanation sounded way better in my head then spoken out. I stayed silent and waited for a reaction of them. From their faces I could see that slowly the gears in their head were turning and processing the whole awkward situation of mine.

To put it bluntly, I was illegal on Asgard. Though I highly doubt I could just console the Asgardian embassy on Earth, apply for a Visa and then spent my holidays here.

"Yes, I remember that lost look on her face." Fandral confirmed my story "Jane Foster was the friend you were looking for, if I am not mistaken."

From the corner of my eye I noticed how Sif's face hardened at the mention of her name, but then she put her poker face back again. Right, I recall that in the original MARVEL comic she was the love interest of Thor too. Plus in the original myth they were even married and had kids. Even though Sif slept with Loki.

I wonder if it's true that Loki was responsible for Sif having black hair.

"Is Jane Foster that woman Thor always talks about?" Volstagg asked.

At that I only mentally face palmed myself. Like dude, your friend is sitting next to, having a heart break and you just have to point out how much Thor adores Jane? Not cool.

Volstagg leaned toward my side. "Just between you and me," He whispered – or at least tried – pretending what he was about to reveal was the biggest secret ever "every evening Thor goes to Heimdall and asks him what she's doing. He believed we do not know about it, but we do." And then he sniggered and went back to eat his meal.

That's really cute and stalkerish of him and I'm sure Jane would think the same thing, even though I still cannot believe she went on a date with that Richard guy. Well, he does have a nice British accent but how can you not like Thor/Chris Hemsworth's Australian accent?

Did I mention I don't like Richard?

I mulled over the information Volstagg just spit out and then balled my hands into a fist, hitting the table top, looking like I just realized something.

"Heimdall." Was my one word explanation.

The three warriors and Lady Sif all stared at me curiously.

"Heimdall is the gate keeper and he sees everything, right? Maybe he knows just what that weird portal between Midgard and Asgard was." I explained, making wild hand gestures along with it. Believe me, I have no intention of ending up in one of Asgards's jails.

Besides, I still have an event to attend.

Fandral and Hogun shared a look, and then nodded their hands.

"Well, I supposed it is time for you to go back to Midgard."

With that the four Asgardians stood up, preparing themselves to leave.

Time to go take a race on the Rainbow Boulevard now.

oOoOoOo

"_Jane."_

"_Sorry, I just needed to make sure you were real, it's been a very strange day."_

"_Well, I am. Jane…"_

"_Where were you?!"_

"_Where were you? Heimdall could not see you."_

"_I was right here where you left me. I was waiting and then I was crying and then I went out looking for you. You said you were coming back."_

"_I know, I know, but the Bifrost was destroyed. The Nine Realms erupted into chaos, wars were raging, marauding horsed were pillaging. I had to put an end to the slaughter._

"_As excuses go, that's not terrible. But I saw you on TV, you were… You were in New York!"_

"_Jane, I fought to protect you from the dangers of my world, but I was wrong, I was a fool… I believe that fate brought us together. Jane, I don't know where you were or what happened, but I do know this…"_

"_What?"_

"_I know…"_

"_You do?"_

oOoOoOo

I believe that every third girl had this phase once in their life time: It all started slowly as a form of attachment. We find them cute, or majestic, or magical. We look through a lot of different pictures of them, learning all the different races and names.

Then you get the chance to see and one in real life. Their soft brown eyes captured yours, and in that moment you swore you two were meant to be. You feel like wanting spent more time together. There was nothing that could tear your friendship apart.

Yes, I am talking about horses.

Proud to say that I never had that phase in my life. On the contrary, I'm scared of horses. Of course not to the point where it could be considered as a phobia, it's just that I'm very wary in the presence of one.

Maybe I have this small fear of them because horse can be grow to be ridiculous tall and I actually have to crank up my neck to see on in its eyes. Or maybe it was simply once on a school trip I got chased by one.

Point is, I almost refused to pay Heimdall a visit simply because the way to the Bifrost was really long and the people here take horses to get there. Fandral offered to give me an own horse to ride there and Jesus did I want to bolt away in that moment.

Not sure if it was just me and my 5'4" height, but could it be that Asgardian horses were also a tad bit taller than Midgardian horses?

The solution to the problem sounded easy. I was supposed to share a horse with Sif. The harder part would be to get onto the horse. I don't know how she managed to do that so effortless and elegantly and making it look like she just flew onto the horse, but there was no fucking way I could copy that move.

I guess the Warriors Three must have somehow seen that, because the next thing I know Volstagg grabbed me by my hip and with ease threw me onto the horse. Squeaking like a little girl I quickly hugged Lady Sif by her waist and shut my eyes tightly, not wanting to experience this horror ride.

Realistically the horse ride was not more than ten minutes, but personally it felt like that the constant trapping sound and moving up and down would go on forever to the point where I could slid off and fall down.

Arriving at the Bifrost entry, they climbed off the horse. Volstagg helped me to get down again, since I was too chicken to do that on my own.

I have no problem with bungee-jumping down from the STARK tower, but when it comes from jumping off a horse I feel like I would die.

Quickly stepping away from the horse, I turned around, only to stumble back again.

The view on Asgard from here was just breathtaking. I have seen a few snippets of the golden city from the movie and some concept artwork, but actually seeing it with my own eyes was just a different experience.

The castle was literally radiating off golden light, it stood tall and proudly, like it was overlooking the city of Asgard. It made me wonder how it would be like to be living in such a castle, but then I had to remember that being a royal means you had a lot of duty to attend and I'm simply not the kind of person to take responsibilities.

"So, Thor is here?" I inquired politely and hopeful. I really want to see him again, and maybe rat Jane out that she was meeting some other dude. Yeah, I am that evil. Also I want to see him a last time before I have to go back home.

If Heimdall lets me go back, that is. Something in the back of mind tells me that he won't just let an illegal visitor that easily off the hook, at least probably not without knowing how I came here in the first place.

Was it really such a good idea to come here?

Either way, it was too late to back out now.

I stared at the Bifrost entry ahead of me. It looked like an observatory, except it was so much bigger and so much gold-er. Did the gold color come from the light or was everything made of gold?

As I pondered about those unimportant things, Fandral nudged me forward to go inside this building.

Heimdall stood there, unmoving like a statue, his eyes cold and distant, but it also held a certain spark of life in it. Where those the eyes that could see everything that was happening in the Nine Realms?

"Welcome to Asgard, Jacqueline Walker." The Gatekeeper greeted me as we approached him.

Taken slightly aback, I stuttered out. "How did you-"

"The alignment of the planets is approaching soon, this leaving gates and passage ways open between the worlds. "He explained.

… Alignment of the planets? Like in the Disney Hercules movies where all the planets moved into one line, which gave Hades a chance to free the Titans and attack Olympus?

"So… You saw how I stepped foot on Asgard?" I concluded.

"You merely wanted to support yourself on a wall but fate decided to bring you here to Asgard."

Yep, he saw everything. I bet behind that stoic mask of his he's laughing at me right now.

This time Lady Sif stepped in. "Where is Thor?"

"His Highness left for Midgard."

"Why?" me and Sif asked at the same time, both confused about why he would suddenly travel to Earth.

"Jane Foster disappeared from my watch."

That much I know. I was there when we couldn't find here. And just because of that he would travel to Midgard and look for her? Did anyone know I went missing too? I really hope no one's going to send someone to Asgard to retrieve me back to Earth.

"Did something bad happen?" I remarked rather sarcastically, thinking that even though it was cute of Thor, actually travel to Midgard via space just to look for a missing Jane was a bit exaggerated.

Oh well, maybe this was simply the Asgardian way to show someone they loved them.

I want an Asgarsian boyfriend.

Preferable tall, handsome and mischievous.

"I could not see Jane Foster for five hours."

"She went missing for two hours." I pointed out dryly.

"And you have been on Asgard for three hours now."

Damn. Three hours already?

Okay, it actually felt longer than three hours.

"But wait, there's something I don't quite understand." I went back to the missing Jane story "Supposedly you could see everything, but she 'disappeared' from your sight for five hours… Where did she go?"

Silence.

The Warriors Three and Lady Sif looked like they were thinking something along the line of 'Did that mortal really just questioned Heimdall's magical eyesight?'. But hey, it was something worth to ask.

The Gatekeeper stared at me for a long time, and finally he replied: "Why don't you ask her yourself."

Well, I'd love to that if I was back on planet Earth.

Without warning Heimdall seethed out his sword and out into a lock, opening the Bifrost.

The golden gates opened, and I tried to see what was behind it, but the bright light blinded my sight, making me shielding my eyes and look away before I'd go blind from it. Times like this I wish I'd carry sunglasses with me, but it was so hard to find the right one that would fit on my nose.

Slowly the light faded away. I opened my eyes again and saw two really familiar figures standing over there.

There was a woman who had the same face as Padmé Amidala from _Star Wars_, or the same face as Nina from _Black Swan_. Either way, she was ogling the building with amazement just like I did before.

I heard how she said 'they have to do it again' and then turned around to greet the ever imitating Heimdall with an awkward hi.

As soon as they spotted their dear friend Thor, the Warriors Three and Lady Sif walked up to him, completely forgetting about me.

Using Jane's distraction to my advantage, I tugged at her sleeve in an innocent way. She turned around, her eyes going wide as dinner plates.

"Jackie?!"

"Welcome to Asgard."

oOoOoOo

"_Look at my legacy, Algrim. I barely remember the time before light._

"_Our survival will be your legacy."_

"_The Asgardians will suffer as we have suffered. I will reclaim the Aether. I will restore our world and I'll put an end to this poisonous world."_


End file.
